To my surprise, the new Plesk-based box does not come with Perl DBI & DBD::mysql installed.

After trying to install them via:

perl -MCPAN -e shell
force install DBI (fails some test and requires force)
install DBD::mysql

DBD::mysql fails because it can't find mysql.h

rpm -qa does not show that the required mysql "Libraries and header files" & "Client programs" are installed (per the mysql book para 2.7.1).

These are available at: http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql-3.23.html

However, these are version 3.23.56 and my new server is 3.23.54a. They won't install and complain that the files are in conflict with the installed version.

SO, the QUESTION IS: where do I go from here? Are the proper versions of the RPM files available somewhere or do I have to upgrade the database to v3.23.56. If I have to upgrade, what is the procedure for a Plesk box? Any risks of something else going up in smoke in the process?

thanks in advance.

Some kind soul at support answered the question for me. Since I have seen this question posted several times in this forum with no answer, I am going to post the answer here so no one else has to suffer:

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Download and install the "mysql-devel" rpm http://rpmfind.net. It does not conflict with anything, nor does it require any further upgrades. You can see that it provides the mysql.h
header file by typing:

rpm -ql mysql-devel | grep mysql.h

So you should be able to compile and install the DBD::mysql driver now. However, may I point out that you can also install the DBI and DBD::mysql modules via RPM?

Download the following from http://rpmfind.net:

perl-DBD-MySQL-1.2219-6.i386.rpm
perl-DBI-1.21-1.i386.rpm

The version numbers may vary by the time you get around to downloading.

Install them as user=root via the following comand (assuming you place the rpm files in /root/rpms/):

rpm -Uvh /root/rpms/perl-DB*

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Of course the standard caveat applies: This is not a supported procedure, so proceed at your own risk.